In the Blink of an Eye
8 x 12 Original pastel.

I’m busy getting ready for a couple of art shows during the month of May. My schedule features some new events this year, and I’m excited about visiting these new areas with my artwork. As I prepare for my schedule, I’m focusing on small format pieces and I wanted to share a couple of new ones with you.

The first is called “In the Blink of an Eye,” and it was inspired by a visit to Milan, Italy last year. The vivid primary colors were an immediate attraction for me, as well as the intriguing composition.

The second piece is entitled “Chicago Brights,” and it continues my recent kick of Chicago-themed works based upon a gorgeous day that I spent in the city last November. Here, too, the rich primary colors motivated this scene. Indeed, between these two pieces you can see an overlapping interest in reds and blues.

Chicago Brights
8 x 12 Original pastel.

My first art show of the 2013 season will be in Birmingham, Michigan early next month. Stay tuned for a preview of more new works soon.

Wykoff Run
16 x 24 original pastel.

Spring is slowly beginning to emerge here in central Pennsylvania. Each day, things are getting a little warmer and a little greener. With emerald green and spring fever on my mind, I chose this latest landscape subject, a view along northern Pennsylvania’s Wykoff Run. This famous trout stream is located in the jaw droppingly gorgeous Quehanna Natural Area of Pennsylvania.

This is a summer view that I captured last year, and sometimes these subjects can be a bit tricky because there is just so much green in the composition that it can be overwhelming. But after a long winter, I was in the mood to tackle this subject and I’m pleased with the end result. To get myself focused, I referred to the works of several of my favorite artists.

Bowed Pine, 22 x 30 watercolor by Rollin Pickford

The first artist whose work I often reference is Rollin Pickford, a California watercolor artist whose ephemeral works are a good reminder to me to just let the color flow in my own pieces. Pictured here is his piece, “Bowed Pine,” a 22 x 30 watercolor on paper from 1975.

Windswept, 12 x 18 pastel by Albert Handell

A second artist is a fellow pastel artist, Albert Handell. I highly recommend his book, co-authored with Anita Louise West, Painting the Landscape in Pastel to any aspiring pastel artist. This is “Windswept,” a 12 x 18 pastel that serves as a step-by-step demonstration in his book.

Pine Breeze, 15 x 71 sumi ink by Shozo Sato

Finally, it never hurts to step outside of one’s cultural comfort zone and look at work inspired by a totally different approach. For a last point of inspiration, I chose “Pine Breeze,” a 15 x 71.5 sumi ink work by Shozo Sato.

As you can see by the book spines in some of these pictures, all of the artwork shown here are photos I took from my books. I cannot overstate the importance of a huge reference library of books for any visual artist. Believe me, I’m a huge fan of the Amazon Kindle and other e-reading devices, but I have a hard time imagining how these devices will ever replace the hard copies of my beloved art books. When I’m stuck and I need inspiration, this is the first place where I turn because I’m not located near a lot of museums. Indeed, one of the biggest reasons why I enjoy visiting cities and traveling is for the opportunity to get my “art fix” at a museum or gallery exhibition. But here in central Pennsylvania, my books are a perfect stand-in.

Wykoff Run Color Studies

All of these resources combined to make “Wykoff Run” possible. You can also see here the initial color studies that I created as color keys for the final piece. Enjoy!

Wabash Shadows
40 x 14 original pastel

Each year, I set goals for my artwork and my business. Because 2013 is my tenth year in business as a fine artist, I thought this would be a good occasion to play around and experiment more with my approach to subjects. I alluded to this in my last post, where I described creating a white, wintry landscape on a very dark paper surface. This new piece, Wabash Shadows, is another example of taking some liberty with the paper surface that underpins the artwork in addition to using an aggressively wide format for the composition.

Detail, Wabash Shadows

With this piece, I employed a technique that I normally reserve for my plein air landscapes, which was to tint the paper with a series of amorphous and colorful washes. Then I applied additional pumice and acrylic to create a gnarly, super toothy ground. In the detail photos featured here, you can see some of this interplay between the colorful ground, the additional texture, and the pastel painting floating over the top.

I’m such a huge fan of the Chicago El and its strong industrial shape. I thought this more aggressive approach to preparing the surface of the piece was appropriate for the nature of the subject. I caught this view back in November during an unusually mild day in the city. If my memory serves me correctly, this is my seventh piece of the El. There definitely will be more. Enjoy!

Detail 2, Wabash Shadows

Winter Pines: Soul.
Original pastel, 17 x 28.

Nonetheless, I’m always a little wistful to say goodbye to the snow. With my artwork, I tend to lag behind the actual season. This latest piece, “Winter Pines – Soul” is no exception. This piece was inspired by a hike last month through Black Moshannon State Park following a fresh, fluffy snowfall. I don’t usually like to brave the roads to drive up there right after a snowfall, but this was the type of snow that really stuck to the tree limbs. Our backyard was gorgeous, and I knew that the park would be outstanding if I could just get there safely. So, I stuffed my carsick-prone studio mascot, Maple, into our car and made the trip.

I was not disappointed by what we discovered when we arrived. It was so peaceful, and we were the only ones in the park that morning, which added to the magic. This piece is the latest addition to an ongoing series of “Winter Pines” works that I began a few years ago. I plan to continue the series, although you may have to wait until winter rolls around again to see any new additions.

As far as this work’s subtitle of “Soul,” well, there are a couple of reasons behind that name. First, the quiet beauty of the park that day was just extraordinary. Days like that are truly the reward for being an artist. Secondly, I’m using this year as an opportunity to slow down a little bit in my work and luxuriate more in my subject choices. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, “You’re an artist. Don’t you do that all of the time?”

But the reality is that the demands of my art show schedule over the past few years have made it challenging at times to experiment and keep a childlike quality of joy in the work that I do. This year, I’m slowing down and taking some chances on some different approaches to my work. For example, with this piece I chose an ivory black ground over which I created this work. I thought it would be fun to juxtapose that dark ground with a snowy subject, and I think it lends a nice richness to the color here.

You’ll see the fruits of this more deliberate approach to my artwork in the coming months. Stay tuned.

I caught the composition for this piece during a visit to the city just before the holidays. The weather was unseasonably mild…Some folks were walking around in T-shirts in December. The relative warmth made my photo safari a lot easier. Sometimes in years past, the battery on my camera has become so cold that the device became sluggish and unresponsive (not unlike me during a cold winter’s morning).

Sunburst, NYC
20 x 30 original pastel

Without a doubt, one of the biggest sources of inspiration in the work I do is the opportunity to play with fantastic colors like this. About the closest analog that I can think of with my landscape work is artwork inspired by fall foliage. I like to use the quiet weeks of winter to take on complicated compositions like this because I’m not rushed by an imminent show deadline and I can really luxuriate in the fun shapes and energy of a subject like this. Enjoy!